This is your genial webmaster John with the latest Tenerife Information Centre Newsletter!

In this month's issue, we'll be taking a look at:

- Two Notable Live Music Concerts- An Important Jazz Festival- The Romeria de San Benito Abad- The World Windsurfing Championship- Website new pages and updates since last newsletter

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Two Notable Live Music Concerts

On Friday, July the 8th, the golf course at Costa Adeje will be transformed into a concert venue for the Canaries Live Sun Festival. The metamorphosis is a huge task, involving around 350 people and it's all in the cause of hosting a visit by two international acts.

This event runs every year and, previously, has featured such big names as Rod Stewart and Elton John. This year's headline act is to be Michael Bolton and, for the first time ever, he will be performing with renowned saxophonist, Kenny G.

The temporary concert venue will be seating only and will accommodate 100,000 people. The concert organisers will employ 200 marshalls, to ensure safety. Its staging is part of an ongoing strategy to put Tenerife on the map as an international concert venue. If a more spacious concert area can be arranged anytime in the future, it is hoped to attract even more prestigious, world-class acts, such as U2.

The concert begins at 10pm and details of tickets and prices can be found on the organiser's website - www.canaryfestival.com

Another pop music concert to watch out for in July takes place at the Auditorio de Tenerife. On Thursday the 28th, James Blunt will take to the stage. Catapulted to fame back in 2005 with the massive hit "You're Beautiful", he went on to have a number one album in 10 different countries, including Spain.

As well as his older hits, he'll be performing music from his latest album, "Some Kind of Trouble", a slight departure from his previous style. It has, apparently, a more "fun" feel to it, with critics describing it as "exciting, energetic and funny".

The concert begins at 9pm and tickets are from 40 to 50 euros, available by telephone or online, from the Auditorio de Tenerife.

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An Important Jazz Festival

The "live music" theme continues in July with the Heineken International Jazz Festival. More properly known as Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz y Mas Heineken, the brewery-sponsored event, this year, celebrates its 20th anniversary. Taking place from the 1st to the 10th of the month, it features many prominent jazz performers from all over the world and events take place at various venues throughout the island, the Auditorio de Tenerife being one of them.

Other venues are likely to be high-profile theatres and concert halls, but, for now, the organisers are reluctant to reveal more. If you are a jazz aficionado, you can keep an eye on the event's website (though you'll need to understand Spanish if you do), at www.canariasjazz.com .

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Romeria de San Benito

This name simply means "Pilgrimage of Saint Benito Abad" and is an important religious festival taking place in La Laguna. Traditionally held on the second Sunday of July, this year it is on the 10th.

The city of La Laguna has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the festival enjoys its own prestige as an event declared to be of national interest to tourists.

There are various events on the days leading up to the main festival, such as the "Festival of the Couplet", folk group preformances and the Baile de Magos, or "dance of the magicians". On the eve of the procession, beginning at around 9:30pm, there is the "Seven Islands Festival", where musicians and performers travel from all the other Canarian islands to participate.

The actual procession on the Sunday also takes pains to involve all seven islands of the Canarian archipelago, with seven women dressed in the traditional costume of each individual island. During the celebrations, they will roam the streets, handing out flowers and fruit. The procession itself aim to honour all the farmers of the region and features carts drawn by cattle, bearing all manner of agricultural produce, such as fruit, vegetables, flowers, cheese and wine, which will be distributed to the pilgrims. Men, women and children, all wearing traditional dress walk alongside these carts and the whole thing is livened up by street musicians performing on traditional instruments - drums, castanents, whistles - encouraging a party atmosphere.

Eventually, the procession reaches the end of its route, the plaza of the hermitage of San Benito, where there is the laying of a wreath. A mass is held, when all the cattle that took part in the procession receive a blessing.

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World Windsurfing Championship

This tournament is taking place throughout July and is in five stages, each based at a different location.

Kicking of in Gran Canaria on July 5th, it then relocates to Tenerife and where is the obvious venue? El Medano, of course - famous as a centre for windsurfing. This leg of the tournament will last from the 14th to the 20th and then move on to locations in Denmark, Germany and Cape Verde.

If you're fans of this extreme sport, get yourself to the town of El Medano, where you'll be able to watch top windsurfers from all over the world compete for the prestigious trophy.

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Tenerife Information CentreNew Pages and Updates Since Last Newsletter